The international Education for All initiative to bring about universal primary education has resulted in large enrollment increases in lower income countries but with limited outcomes. Due to scarcity in material and human resources, all but the better off often fail to learn basic skills. To improve performance within the very limited capacities…

A mathematics curriculum for moderately and severely retarded and autistic students and adults should possess 10 necessary characteristics, including provision for instruction based on assessment results, stress on functional application, focus on generalization of skills, and specific criteria for mastery of each skill. The functional but…

This paper argues that the "back to basics" movement represents a simplistic assessment of the problem it is trying to deal with. It is not necessary for the English curriculum to "return" to narrowly defined basic skills because the English curriculum, in fact, never left them, and that is the real problem. Language…

Presented is a checklist developed by the Austin Early Childhood Special Education Program to help teachers determine the functioning level of children ages 0-4 and plan appropriate learning experiences. Two-hundred and -three Behavioral Statements are provided for six areas of functioning: perceptual skills, motor skills, self help skills, social…

This activity book teaches elementary school students about good vision and eye safety through a combination of puppet plays, stories, songs, and games. Nine games are provided to help children develop vision skills including visual memory, visual perception, directionality, spatial orientation, and visual-motor responses. Master Plans for making…

The case for the inclusion of aesthetic education with the traditional basic courses of reading, writing, and arithmetic is examined. The following points are emphasized in regarding arts education as a basic: (1) Aesthetic experience is basic because it is a primary form of experience on which all cognition, judgment, and action depend. It is the…

This report describes in detail a performance objective curriculum designed to help disadvantaged prekindergarten and kindergarten urban children attain the skills required to be at grade level in reading and mathematics and at the national norm in I.Q. by grade 1. The program is designed to systematically develop students' skills in 10 critical…

Current research and though regarding the relationship of individual difference (ID) factors to achievement in the basic skills is reviewed. Four major categories and nine subcategories of ID factors are defined and serve as the framework for the review: status factors (age, sex, and race, ethnic group, and socioeconomic status); intelligence…

This document contains the proceedings of a conference on family literacy that was attended by representatives of community-based literacy and family literacy programs in Newfoundland and Labrador. The document begins with an executive summary of the conference activities. The texts of the following keynote addresses are presented: "A…